Part 20 (2/2)
”De La Roche?”
”Aye.”
De Longville gazed first at the floor beneath his feet then at the ceiling overhead and bent his brows in a painful frown. At length he said:
”It seems I have the casting vote. I see little use in these changes, save to pamper churls and thralls that too often already raise their heads with complaints and demands. Some of them verily believe they might govern the land as well as their betters. 'Tis a dangerous tendency that must be checked. I say _nay_ also.”
Lord Esmond turned toward Cedric with a smile of triumph; and my heart became as lead to think of his defeat. But the Knight of Grimsby was instantly on his feet again with a new proposal, which to my amaze he uttered with a broad and pleasant smile on his face, such as he might have worn had his amendings been received with utmost acclaim.
”Has the thought come to you, my lords, that in this scroll, thus far, we have made no provision for the enforcement of our demands? We deal with a strong and crafty monarch. Even if he place his seal upon our demands, what surety have we that he will adhere to them after our levies have been dispersed? He will then be stronger than any one or two or three of us. How shall we ensure his adherence to the treaty?”
The rest of us gazed at one another in silence. This was a new thought, it seemed, to our whole a.s.sembly; and none could deny the seriousness of the question. At last De Longville spoke again:
”And hast thou, Grimsby, given thought to this so that thou canst now produce a remedy?”
”Not on the instant, my lord; but in the main my thought is this: In this instrument itself must be provision for its enforcement. The King must agree that a body of ten or a score or more of us shall be named by ourselves; and that these shall be responsible to see that the charter be not impaired or overridden. In another night I can form the language to carry this provision into our articles.”
Then the Abbot spoke, suggesting that Sir Cedric be instructed to do this; and finally, on motion of mine, the articles were back referred to Cedric and the Abbot with instruction to bring to our meeting, at two o'
the clock on the following day, a fair and perfect copy that we might adopt and place before the a.s.sembled leaders.
'Twas then high noon. As we left the Council Hall, Sir Cedric took me by the arm and insisted that I come to his inn for the midday meal. There was in his inviting a special urgency and a look in his eyes from which I who knew him so well of old instantly gained the knowledge that this was no ordinary matter of courtesy but something of vastly greater moment. So I easily suffered myself to be led toward his quarters; and soon we were seated at a board that was graced with a goodly roast and all other due refreshment.
When we had something satisfied our hunger, and the old serving man who waited on us had departed, Cedric bent toward me across the board to say:
”What sayest thou, Sir Richard, to a ride of a dozen leagues or so and a little adventure whereby, if Fortune favors, we may do our cause full loyal service?”
”With all my heart!” I cried, ”whither shall we ride, and on what errand?”
'Twas two months and more since we had seen activity; and this dull life of the camp and the town was little to my liking. Sir Hubert Gillespie had lately struck a blow for the King by the surprise and capture of two strong castles in the Midlands that we had thought safely in our hands, while we with our brave array at Stamford consumed the days and our dwindling substance in idleness.
”'Tis one that's something dangerous, forsooth,” replied my friend, ”and I doubt much whether our elderly and prudent leaders would approve it.”
”Say no more, for Mountjoy is with thee to the hilt. What followers shall I bring, and with what arms?”
”A dozen l.u.s.ty swordsmen-men still young and light on the feet and with heads to understand a stratagem. d.i.c.kon and John o' the Wallfield and Elbert the Smith are the right sort. See that every man wears beneath his outer garment a coat of linked mail and carries a sword no longer than his arm. Within the hour I will meet thee at the beech wood thou knowest to the south of the town; and will bring a like number of the men of Grimsby. We shall ride hard and far; so look to it, I pray thee, that thy men be well mounted. We may have cause for speed on the homeward road.”
An hour later, with four and twenty proper men, Cedric and I rode out of the beech wood, and took the high road toward the south, where, but five or six leagues away, the castles and most of the towns were still in the hands of the King's mercenaries. I knew full well that the quest on which we were embarked was one that meant our cause's advancement, and would have willingly trusted Cedric for the rest; but now we drew ahead of our hors.e.m.e.n, and he explained full clearly his design. 'Twas such a plan as only Cedric would have formed, and its outcome in truth, exceeding dubious; but we were comrades of old in many a venture that would have been refused by prudent men; and now he had no labor in convincing me that this was worth the trial.
After an hour's riding, we came to a thick wood, and turned aside in this into a little glade where we halted to rest our mounts and to bring about a most surprising change in our appareling. At a word from Cedric, each of the Grimsby men proceeded to withdraw from his saddle bags some garments which, being unfolded, appeared as the long gray cloaks and hoods of palmers. Each, it seemed, had brought a costume for himself and for one of the Mountjoy men; and now, in less time than the telling takes, we had all laid aside among the bracken any headwear or other dress that might not properly consort with these, and stood forth as a body of pilgrims in the dress that marked those who had accomplished the toilsome journey to the Holy Land. Soon we were on the road again, and, save for now and again the rattle of a sword hilt or a robust, laughing word, might not have been distinguished from a cavalcade of devout returning pilgrims such as were not uncommon on our roads.
Without mishap we pursued our way into a region where all the points of vantage were held by our enemies; and where armed parties, far too strong for our gainsaying, patrolled the roads or watched them from the hilltops. In the late afternoon we came within sight of the Castle of Moberley which was held for the King by Sir John Champney with a hundred lances and six score cross-bowmen.
On the left, and but half a mile from the castle, lay the Abbey where William De Bellair, favorite of the King, renegade cleric and forsworn Crusader, held usurping sway over the monks and lay brethren and the fields and vineyards that had been the rightful domain of our a.s.sociate at Stamford whom we still greeted as the Abbot of Moberley.
At a like distance from Moberley Castle was a fork in the road just beyond a timbered bridge o'er a stream. There the left-hand track led to the Abbey and that on the right went straight to the castle gates. At the full trot we took the former turning, and soon were calling for admittance at the Abbey doors.
This, to a devoted band of pilgrims, was not long denied. The gates were thrown ajar, and, leaving two trusty fellows to care for the horses in the outer courtyard, we pa.s.sed into the refection hall of the monastery to pay our respects to this venerable seat of piety and learning. Our worthy palmers scattered themselves about the great room with its low timbered ceiling and mighty fireplace, and engaged in talk with the monks or in reverent examining of the painted series on the walls, the work of an earnest though not too highly skilled lay brother, and setting forth the story of Joseph and his brethren.
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